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China State Media at Odds Over Myanmar Censorship Move

News on Monday that Myanmar had decided to end press censorship has prompted different takes from Chinese media outlets, as well as doubts from the online community that China will its own tight restrictions anytime soon.

Conflicting views of the development were evident even within the same state-run media organization.

Associated Press

A customer looks at a local weekly journal at a roadside shop in Yangon, Myanmar, Monday, Aug. 20, 2012. Myanmar’s government said Monday it was abolishing direct censorship of the country’s media. Under the new rules, journalists will no longer have to submit their work to state censors before publication as they for almost half a century.

The website of the People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece newspaper, covered the news in a fairly evenhanded way on Monday, going so far as to quote a local journalist in Rangoon saying, “this is a great day for all Myanmar journalists.”

The newspaper also posted the quote on its account on Sina Corp.’s Weibo microblogging service on Monday, winning praise from other microbloggers. “Kudos to the People’s Daily website for going further than other media with this quote,” wrote Kai Fu Lee, the former president of Google China, who has more than 10 million followers on the site.

The People’s Daily post marked the latest instance over the past two weeks in which the paper – which is often criticized online – met with public praise. It won accolades last week with a commentary that offered public support to the mother of a rape victim who was sent to a labor camp after pushing tougher punishment for the men who allegedly attacked her daughter.

The Global Times, a nationalist-leaning tabloid published by the People’s Daily, was less supportive. In an editorial on Tuesday, it said China should never follow Myanmar’s model.

“China’s reform process has been baptized and tested thousands of times, while Myanmar’s reform is just about to bud,” read the editorial. “We would be naïve and childish if we doubt ourselves because we, a well-grown tree, look different from a flower bud.”

“China has been on the track of liberalizing the press for a long time, and will go further in the future,” it read. “We should proceed based on the national situation, instead of being panicked and making backwards countries like Myanmar and Vietnam our totem.”

The editorial drew heavy criticism on China’s social-media platforms. “China has been on the track of liberalizing the press for a long time? But in the wrong direction,” said one Weibo user.

“The way the Global Times comments on Vietnam and Myanmar is just like what happens in this country: the rich look down upon the poor, usually with a nouveau riche attitude,” said another microblogger.

Many online wondered whether China, with its tight media controls, would follow. “It seems that only North Korea and us are left now,” one Weibo user observed. “When will this great day come to China’s journalists?” asked another.

Others sounded more skeptical. “May I ask, does Myanmar delete Weibo posts?” wrote Pan Shiyi, a prominent real-estate developer, on his verified Sina Weibo’s account, referring to China’s censors deleting unfavorable online posts — a practice that has become increasingly frequent as use of social media grows in the country.